Famorca clings to the side of a mountain in the Comtat, a district of Alicante province where the roads are as steep as the villages are small. Abric I in the Barranc de Famorca is the first of a series of painted shelters in the ravine, and like its neighbours it shows Levantine red paintings, part of the UNESCO list for the Mediterranean basin. The shelters lie in a deep gully below the village, and getting down to them means a walk on a stony path.
What makes the whole area worth the climb is the geography. The Serra d'Aitana, its highest summit a little over fifteen hundred metres, rises to the north, and the Sierra de Serrella and Bèrnia fill the horizon to the east and south. Between them the valleys are terraced with almond, olive and carob, and in late winter the almond blossom turns whole hillsides pink and white. The air smells of rosemary and woodsmoke, and the silence is broken by sheep bells, dogs and the occasional motorcycle.
A good road runs from Callosa d'en Sarrià, a town known for its loquats, up the Guadalest valley, with the reservoir below and the castle of Guadalest on its rock above. The corners are tight and constant, the gradients steep, and the surface patchy in places. On a sunny weekend you will share the road with cyclists, who tend to climb in the middle of it. Midweek, and especially in winter, you can have the lot to yourself.
For fuel and a proper lunch, use Pego or the coast, since the mountain villages have little and sometimes nothing. Benimantell and Castell de Castells have small bars where a plate of local food and a coffee is cheap.
In summer the heat can be savage by midday, and the afternoon thunderstorms that sometimes form over the Aitana are sudden and heavy. October and March are probably the best months, with clear skies and a sharp light that picks out every terrace wall.